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DAMASCUS: Syria is preparing to establish the first parliament since Bashar Assad was toppled, a milestone in the transition from his rule but one that has stirred new concerns about political inclusivity under President Ahmed Al-Sharaa.

Regional committees have selected electoral colleges that will elect two-thirds of the 210-member People’s Assembly, on October 5. Sharaa appoints the remaining third.

The authorities say they resorted to this system rather than universal suffrage due to a lack of reliable population data and displacement after years of war.

The process is unfolding as Sharaa tries to consolidate his hold over a fractured nation, with suspicion of his Sunni Islamist-led administration running deep among minority Kurds, Druze and Alawites.

How will the election take place?

The process is run by an 11-member body appointed by Sharaa in June. This body in turn appointed regional subcommittees that selected members of regional electoral colleges, after local consultations. A preliminary list of some 6,000 electors has been announced. To run for parliament, you must first be selected as a member of an electoral college.

The criteria rule out supporters of the former regime, and advocates of “secession, division or seeking foreign intervention.”

The 140 seats are distributed among 60 districts.

Will it take place across all Syria?

No. Citing security and political reasons, the authorities have postponed the process in areas controlled by a Kurdish-led administration in the northeast, which differs sharply with Sharaa over how Syria should be governed.

It was also delayed in predominantly Druze Sweida in the south, where tensions remain high following violence that pitted government forces against Druze fighters.

This means that around a dozen seats reserved for these areas will not be filled for now.

What do critics say?

Critics say the process is centralized and the eligibility criteria vaguely defined, among other concerns.

A statement from 15 civil society groups said it opens the way for “the executive authority to dominate an institution that should be independent of it and reflect the popular will.”

The Supreme Committee says an appeals process allows people to challenge selections of electors.

Though the rules stipulate that at least a fifth of electors should be women, there is no minimum requirement for their parliamentary representation. Likewise, there are no quotas for ethnic and sectarian minorities.

Combined with a winner-takes-all voting system, the election could produce a result dominated by men from Syria’s Sunni Muslim majority, analysts say. This may put the onus on Sharaa, who has repeatedly promised inclusivity, to use his third to appoint female lawmakers and members of minority groups.

Political scientist Radwan Ziadeh described it as a selection process that risked adding to a “crisis of legitimacy” by not providing “true representation.” “Critics ... will say this is not democratic, it’s not free, even though the state never claimed it was a democratic process,” he said.

The dominant Kurdish groups see the process as further evidence that Damascus wants to monopolize power. Sharaa has rejected their demand for decentralized government.

Thouraya Mustafa of the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) said it showed the new administration had the same mentality “as the previous authoritarian mentality.”

Under Assad, parliament acted as a rubber stamp for his decisions.

What has Sharaa said?

Sharaa has said the assembly was being formed in “an acceptable way” for a transition, and was “not a permanent state.” He said it was impossible to hold a national election due to “the loss of documents,” noting many Syrians are outside the country, also without documents.

Sharaa has previously indicated support for democratic governance, telling the Economist in January that “if democracy means that the people decide who will rule them and who represents them in the parliament, then yes Syria is going in this direction.”

What powers will the parliament have?

A temporary constitution introduced in March granted parliament limited authorities. There is no requirement for the government to win a parliamentary vote of confidence.

The Assembly can propose and approve laws. Its term is 30 months, renewable. It assumes legislative authority until a permanent constitution is adopted and elections are organized.

CAIRO: Prominent British-Egyptian activist Alaa Abdel Fattah was released from prison in Cairo, his family said on Tuesday, prompting an emotional reunion with his loved ones after a pardon from President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi.
Abdel Fattah, 43, was a leading figure in Egypt’s 2011 uprising and an outspoken critic of the country’s authorities who had been jailed for the better part of the past decade.
His lawyer and a high-ranking Egyptian official confirmed on Monday that El-Sisi had granted him a presidential pardon and that he would soon walk free from Wadi Al-Natrun Prison, a major penitentiary on the outskirts of the capital Cairo.
Social media posts by his family members early on Tuesday showed Abdel Fattah enjoying an emotional reunion with his loved ones following his release.
“Home,” read a post from an official X account that had advocated for his release, accompanied by a photograph of a smiling Abdel Fattah in a baggy yellow T-shirt embracing his mother, Laila Soueif.
Abdel Fattah’s sister Mona Seif, herself a well-known activist, hailed on X “an exceptionally kind day” and posted a photo of herself, apparently overwhelmed with emotion, with her arm around her beaming brother’s shoulders.
Over the past two decades, Abdel Fattah has been imprisoned under every Egyptian administration, from ousted president Hosni Mubarak to the current president El-Sisi.
He was last arrested in 2019 and sentenced in 2021 to five years in prison for “spreading false news” after sharing a Facebook post about alleged torture in Egyptian jails.
His sentence was due to end in September 2024, but authorities refused to count his remand period as part of it.
Soueif recently ended a 10-month hunger strike demanding her son’s release.
Abdel Fattah had escalated his own such strike, held in solidarity with her, at the start of September.
On Monday, the state-affiliated Al-Qahera News channel reported that El-Sisi had pardoned “a number of convicted persons, after taking the constitutional and legal procedures in this regard.”
“The pardon includes... Alaa Ahmed Seif El-Islam Abdel Fattah,” added the channel, which is linked to Egypt’s state intelligence service.
Tarek Al-Awady, a member of Egypt’s presidential pardons committee, later said all procedures for the pardon had been finalized and Abdel Fattah was awaiting his imminent release.
Abdel Fattah’s lawyer separately confirmed the pardon, which took place along with five other people.
Pardon petition 
The move came after El-Sisi ordered relevant authorities earlier this month to study a petition submitted by the state-affiliated National Council for Human Rights to pardon a number of individuals, including Abdel Fattah.
It also followed a decision by a Cairo criminal court to remove Abdel Fattah from the country’s terrorism list, ruling that recent investigations showed no evidence linking him to the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood group.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) described the pardon as “long overdue good news,” calling for the release of other dissidents.
“Though we celebrate his pardon, thousands of people like Alaa are still languishing in Egyptian jails simply for exercising their rights to freedom of speech,” said Amr Magdi, HRW’s senior Middle East and North Africa researcher.
“Hopefully his release will act as a watershed moment and provide an opportunity for El-Sisi’s government to end the wrongful detention of thousands of peaceful critics.”
The British government had consistently raised Abdel Fattah’s case with Egyptian authorities, including during talks between Prime Minister Keir Starmer and El-Sisi.
British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper welcomed the pardon on X, saying she was “grateful to President El-Sisi for this decision.”
“We look forward to Alaa being able to return to the UK, to be reunited with his family,” Cooper wrote.
In May, a United Nations panel of experts determined that Abdel Fattah’s detention was arbitrary and illegal, and called for his immediate release.
Last month, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk also urged the Egyptian authorities to end a practice allowing the prolonged arbitrary detention of government critics.
The practice, known as “rotation,” often involves lodging new charges against detainees just before their remand period comes to an end.
Turk said the practice “appears to be used to circumvent the rights of individuals to liberty, due process and equality before the law.”
Since 2022, El-Sisi’s administration has released hundreds of detainees and pardoned several high-profile dissidents, including Abdel Fattah’s lawyer Mohamed Al-Baqer.
Despite Abdel Fattah’s pardon, hundreds of other activists and politicians remain behind bars.